The special’s credited performers include Lance Burton, Mark Kalin, Jinger Leigh, Bill Malone and Steve Forte. Directed by Alan Carter, with Gary Ouellet and Jim Steinmeyer listed among its producers, the program brought together artists working with very different forms of magic.
Much of the production was filmed at the then-new Caesars Magical Empire in Las Vegas. Contemporary reporting described a program that revisited classic magical feats and included archival footage of earlier performers. Among its featured illusions was Kalin and Leigh’s presentation of sawing a woman in half.
Burton contributed a dramatic escape associated with Houdini’s legacy. Coverage in the Las Vegas Sun described a buried-alive presentation filmed in the Valley of Fire outside Las Vegas, with Burton enclosed in a coffin and buried. The setting placed the performance far beyond the familiar theater stage.
For card enthusiasts, Forte’s appearance provides another reason to explore the special.
The production’s backstage history is equally interesting. Reporting from the set for Deseret News, television editor Scott D. Pierce described fire-alarm tests repeatedly interrupting Malone’s card performance. Each interruption complicated the job of repeating his handling, dialogue and jokes for the cameras. The account captures the patience and coordination required to turn a live magic routine into television.
Thirty years after its original broadcast, The Hidden Secrets of Magic offers a useful meeting point between magic history and television history. Its documented mix of classic illusions, card work and escape performance gives viewers several paths into the art. The performers and production stories also make it a worthwhile selection for anyone interested in how magic reached audiences during the 1990s.
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